Thanks to Morning Brew for sponsoring a portion of this video and thanks for my daily news briefing - sign up for free here morningbrewdaily.com/properpeople.
Your videos are great I binge on them like crazy. But I got to ask how the hell can you afford to travel all these places. Gas back and forth to work is killing me.
@@niceboy761 Aye I was about to comment on the same thing. @ 20:49 looks like a phone or something go's into the rubble as he slides down. Hope they recovered it.
I worked in other sections of that subway, I had been in that tunnelling machine many times, it's the same one that drilled the section from Can Zam to La Sagrera stations, was disassembled there and carried to that part. Many of the tunnel sections you show (the ones vertically divided) are already finished, just waiting for the rails and the trains. However, the stations in that area had to be done after the tunnel passed, and the side of the tunnel disassembled to allow for the platforms to be constructed. In that part of the city, the works were stopped due to the "upper side" of the city filling complaints and threatening legal action for hypothetical damages to their homes, so the works were stopped more than 10 years ago and never resumed. There are talks to resume it, but many people living in the upper side care not for "peasant transportation", and will do whatever they can to stop it. The worst is that part of the construction cost for those projects was to be offset by selling the tunnelling machine after the project was finished. Being abandoned like this, the cost will have dropped dramatically, despite being a good machine back in the day. Bonus track: When I was in the other section in 2004, that same machine had to stop near the Fondo station due to sandy terrain. If the machine moved forward there was a high risk that a whole block would be swallowed by the tunnel. The machine was stopped and the terrain had to be stabilised by jet grouting (injecting concrete into the sand to make it solid, allowing the machine to continue excavating without risk of collapsing. The losses by the construction company (and, by extension, the government) were estimated in tens of millions in those 3-4 months the machine was stopped. Now it's been more than 10 years, so...
That’s incredible to read about the jet grouting part. In the US, the contractors might be able to file suit or claim insurance based on “unforeseen circumstances”. Though, I’m surprised that did not come up in a geotechnical investigation.
@@JY_Yip thats how contractors in the states make money being the lowest bidder. "Change orders" or any extra's, add ons or a complication not seen in surveys or plans, they will typically charge more for.
I worked on the Seattle tunnel project and this brings back memories. The boring machine we used was heavily computer controlled. The sensor monitor room was part of the machine, it was bigger than the one these guys found, it was sealed and on vibration mounts, you never could tell the machine was in operation, right adjacent to the computer room there was a clean break room and sleeping areas for 6 people. The rooms were divided 2 per partition. There was a shower, toilet, television with cable. They made us work 10 hour shifts even on Christmas, the logic was we couldn't refuse if we were already there. Just like this machine, there were crew safety bunkers for the construction crew and the computer staff was supposed to use the sleeping quarters as their bunker, I guess it would have worked it did have emergency air tanks on the back end. I remember coming out of there after 28 days, I would get headaches when outside, my eyes suffered temporary shock or something.
I’m working on Seattle’s new tunnel project. Using hyperbaric machine we don’t have to stay down there forever only the head is compressed and we go in for interventions to change knives and discs.
@@AsianManZan That's much better and safer than the old way. I'll bet the control room is actually large enough to feel like a relaxed office, I remember the close quarters feeling and I don't miss it.
19:20 that tunnel looked WAY smaller until he started walking down that piping, then you see the scale of just how giant that is. Before there was a person for scale, on camera it looked almost like you'd need to bend down to walk through that.
In some of the other videos, people have complained about someone walking into a shot. My reply was that you NEED someone just to put things into scale.
@@johnpombrio Exactly! Cameras by themselves just simply can't scale it alone. A person is one of the best scales when it comes to indescribably large structures.
18:14 there’s something about this part of the video that I just adore. The music and the dripping water with the massive empty concrete room that stretches all the way up to the surface is for some reason so hypnotizing to me. This kind of thing is what makes me keep coming back to this channel.
As a former equipment operator, some of those machines are not decade old. I see one that's at most two years old without any signs of standstill aging. I assume they are still working, when they have money at the time, stop when they don't. I've been on similar projects.
I know it's not unusual but it still feels surreal to me to have something like an expensive backhoe just sitting there underground, patiently waiting to be put to use again. It makes me think of all the money spent on these sites that never end up being finished.
Well, it was only a couple of weeks after this the government announced it was continuing the project. So no doubt they had already started to gather some things at this time.
Yeah they are still working on it all the time, i have a friend from barcelona, and it's just an ongoing project, not abandoned - just has slower periods in construction.
If you want to understand how this specific machine works, there is an animated video describing how it works: ua-cam.com/video/MZsbFycQ0Vo/v-deo.html Here is a video of a tour through a similar machine being used in London: ua-cam.com/video/izLHTYaJrho/v-deo.html
@@kadymcawesome773 They talk about a flashlight lost in the fall at 22:45, so it must be that instead. That might sound like not much in comparison, but those are high performance flashlights, not cheap, plus his light panel got broken too.
I love how distinct and foreboding the music is in every video. Really lends to the feeling of abandonment in the atmosphere that surrounds most of the places being explored.
@@magscorch7706 Yeah, saw that mentioned towards the end- it was really the boring machine itself that was outdated/abandoned and is getting disassembled, hauled out and replaced. But still, seeing an in-progress metro tunnel was quite a sight. :B
20:50 it looks like you lost a flash light or something like it. As you slid down it can be seen falling between the rocks. Hope you found it on the way out because that’d be a long walk just to get a flash light back
I also noticed, but thanks to my raging ADHD, I was still trying to write the comment when the part came up where they mention losing/breaking the lights. So I deleted it and went to find out if anyone else caught it and here y’all are! 😁
Between this and other such sites, I get the impression Spain is really proficient in creating hugely expensive construction ruins. But this is a really special explore and I'm glad I'm seeing it PP style!
Germany is mich better in creating constructions that are 10 times more expensive take 20 times as much time for building and after its done major problems occure and the have to start again. Berlin airport for example
Thank you guys for filming all this! As a mechanic, I've always wondered A) How big the machine actually is, B) What the *F* the inner workings look like, and C) how the workers traversed the machine! GREAT JOB! And thank you! I love your videos!
The front of the machine was pressurised because the ground being excavated was below the water table and would collapse under normal pressure hence the airlock.
Is it just me or is this one of the most daredevil ones you guys have done? I know in some of the old buildings there's always the danger of a floor collapse but somehow the suspense in this one was off the charts. keep up the good work
Tell that to Cincinnati... who built a subway system in the 20th century only for it to be abandoned and the above ground portions demolished. PP did a video on it (and the fallout shelter that was crafted from one of the stations, only for it too to be re-abandoned).
Yep and in this day and age of inflation and unstable economy, wasting money, especially THAT much money (if they never finished it) is foolhardy and inexcusable, really.
@@ratdude747 But you know. CARS. CARS are important, only CAR. Everyone needs to buy a CAR with a LOAN so that banks/lenders make also profit. And all that just to enable you to go to work and get your own money - to partly pay that CAR and the LOAN. That was the schema - Banks and automobile makers did it together. And now you cannot do anything - not even to get groceries - in 99% of the US when you do not have access to a car. Residential areas and commercial areas strictly divided with no direct access, but only endless car roads around. North America has the worst city planning of the world (Canada is included) - and sadly many developing countries repeat the EXACT same mistakes. Urban sprawls. houses everywhere, and endless roads for cars.
@@PascalGienger And you can be sure that as you hint at, it was all done "by design"! Conspiracies happen all the time, even the Founding Fathers of the USA stated that fact back in the 1700s.
I always love when there's a long intro of them just getting to the area they're trying to explore. It really makes it seem like they're traveling to a different realm or something.
The reason that segmented lining was built and then removed is because the tunnel boring machine has to have the complete concrete ring built to push against, to move itself forward. It wouldn't be strong enough with a big piece missing from the ring.
@grippa, how about the "hot boxes" at 26:00 Michael was talking about being inside of with everything burning around you... Just made me think that you'd know what an old "aluminum-pan oven TV dinner" felt like, lol.
These tunnels have that old aperture labs look and feel. The structures and engineering is imposing and threatening. An awesome exploration right there
I'm glad that you guys were able to get to see the tunnels before the company announced that construction is restarting. It's great that the company didn't completely abandoned a project that they were working on. I wonder how are the tunnels going to look like after construction is completed.
26:46 That butter cookie tin..... we are living in a simulation and the programmer is like... "ok so we got a tool shed workshop, we need a butter cookie tin for nuts and bolts."
Some information on the net says that the Barcelona Line 9 TBM had two "Earth Pressure Balance" Shields with a diameter of 9.37 meters, and two with a diameter of 12.06 meters. At the time of its operation in Seattle the Bertha TBM had the largest cutterhead ever built, with a diameter of 17.5 meters, and the whole machine had a length of 99 meters. After it completed boring the tunnel and broke out into the disassembly vault, it was cut up into scrap metal for removal. It was built specifically for boring one tunnel, and there was no practical way that it could be reused anywhere else.
@@mfree80286 In a basic sense, yes. For example, one of the TBMs that dug the channel tunnel was sealed in a side shaft after it was completed. They are logistically complicated pieces of equipment built to meet site-specific conditions. Some are reused if practical, but many remain within the structures they helped create.
Wow, the beginning of the episode really looks like an apocalyptic movie with the color of the sky and everything. Great job as always and keep up the amazing urbex!
Guys, one of THE coolest explores so far, right up there with the blast furnace! The industrial ones are my favourite, though I would have been so claustrophobic on this one! Great job as always.
i work for a tunnelling company and what you seen is very rare for the average person too see. hope you had air monitors on as there can be some very dangerous gas/ lack of C02 in those tunnels.
No matter where in the world you might be. When you walk into a workshop there's always butter cookies tin in there. And it always seems to be from the same company. And it doesn't matter what kind of workshop it is, even if the workshop has no use for them. The tin always has miscellaneous bolts, or screws. I'm surprised no one has come up with some crazy theory to explain it. 🤔
They left boring machines in the Super Collider in Waxahachie Texas it was a 54 mile long Particle Collider that was abandoned in 1993 by congress and all the equipment got left down there at 164 ft to 575 ft under ground.
The dripping water in the huge tunnel going up was awesome to listen to. The machine reminded me of Ocean's 13...though given how huge the machine you were on was...I now realize how impossible it probably is for one person to run one of those machines like in the movie (I know it's a movie and it's all fake but yeah...).
That space around 14:00 reminds me of that giant drainage thing you have to get down in Mirror's Edge. In fact, this whole video reminds me of that game lol. Love it
There are practically no structures I would not want to know the How and When they were built, my inquisitive mind is absolutely astonished by your discoveries during your explorations in the Abandoned facilities. Thank you for putting forth these amazing videos.
I'm pleased to see U guys didn't do what a few kids did a months back at this same location...they thought it'd be cool to start up a transport vehicle for the workers and drove it a mile or so and smashed into TBM framework and eventually got it stuck high side and left it idling...U guys were definitely trying to maintain low profile but the echo in those tunnels is tremendously resilient and I'm pretty sure those rent-a-jokes are too lazy to come down after anyone...Stay Gold🍻
I think my favorite video of the proper people is the 2-part mine one from a few years ago. But this one is surprisingly haunting too, it has a unique ambience and to think all of it is under a living city. Wish we could follow the friends who accompained you here on youtube too.
@@goodmorningsundaymorning4533 Neither can I, I’ve always wanted to see the full extent of Seattle’s abandoned underground, especially the off limit sections.
Wow that place is crazy, you could feel the tension the first few minutes. And that tunnel... Mustve been exhasting being there for five hours. Great explore as always!
Typically those tunnels are made with 48 differently dimensioned concrete segments. They're gasketed and bolted together to do whatever routing needs to be done. I love tunnels. You can also find an abandoned 9 foot machine in Tacoma, WA....no doubt flooded. It got stuck and the French company abandoned it and went bankrupt because of it. That was for storm water drainage into Puget Sound. Each segment was 3 to 6 cubic yards of concrete. There were over 100,000 segments in each tunnel. 9 foot, 11 foot and 14 foot. 3 tunnels
@@silicon1The entrances are all under water. They're all drainage tunnels. King County storm drainage project. Many millions of $$$. Company I worked for got $20 million just to re-open concrete plant to deal with that stuck drilling machine. The machine was bypassed via another 9' tunnel that went around it. Sorta neat to think that machine will be there for millions of years.
@@shannonrickard8605 I imagine it has to do with safety and or there being a breach somewhere that allowed a lot of water into the tunnel. The cutter heads of tunnel boring machines are well ahead of the section that builds the concrete walls as it moves. And since those machines are really only designed to go forwards backing it out is impossible. The diameter of the boring machine is larger than the final diameter of a finished section of tunnel. Thus, the only way for it to come out backwards would be in pieces, which means you'd effectively have to destroy the front part of the machine to remove it. Costly, due to the labor involved, safety risks, and then the fact the machine itself is destroyed in the process.
@@randomman057 often when a projected is completed, another tunnel is constructed for the TBM to be entombed for eternity. When the machines are reused or sold I presume the tunnel ends in a large access point and the TBM is recovered to the surface in segments. Seems such a waste not to reuse the machines.
I have only watches 7 minutes and this video is already one of the best. It feels so real. I know you guys really go to these places but, this video is so surreal and captivating. I feel like im in some kind of exploration video game and its fantastic. I forgot to mention the audio. Great choices to bring it all together.
That place is the definition of a video game, especially at the beginning when it was half open construction with water everywhere. Love u guy's vids, keep it up and stay safe :)
Very impressive. Its amazing how massive this thing is and far far underground it goes. Looking up those shaves is truly breathtaking. I would have worn boots if I had know there was so much water, but even that might not do it considering how deep it is.
I had a chance to see one of the machines they were using a bore a road tunnel in Hong Kong - that was about 14m across, so larger than a typical subway tunnel. Yes, it was incredibly loud, even when wearing hearing protection and there was a bunch of constant low-frequency vibration. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hot - although I gather there was a large cooling system in use.
@20:51 did you retrieve whatever fell from dudes bag? I watch a lot of your explorations and I must say this one is one of the best. Imagine the money just wasted here... Thanks for the video and the time it takes to create, edit and UL these for me to live vicariously through you guys...
I've known about these machines but, the scale of them is pretty awesome. It's amazing what the do. Dig, put up walls and everything. Very massive machines. It's nice to see one up close...Thanks as normal !
I'm a bit surprised to hear they are going to haul the pieces of that old TBM back up to the surface. Some of the Canadian tunnel projects I've heard about involved tunneling the machine into a new leg of the tunnel it drills its way into. Then it is encapsulated within for eternity! The modern history tour was great, many thanks to The Proper People :)
Yeah, when building the Channel Tunnel the final machine that made the cut connecting the French tunnel with the British tunnel was just sent off digging to one side and then sealed in.
Tunnel boring machines are often left underground after completing the job because it is more expensive to remove it and to refurbish it for another use then to just buy and build a whole new.
I don't think this can be done because this line already has two north and south functional sections, so the only option would be to dig another parallel tunnel to specifically leave the machine in there?? Idk
@@rubengonzalez2911 That is exactly what they do. Once the tunnel is complete and they have no use for the machine they specifically dig a parallel tunnel that is just long enough to fit the machine in to. Once the machine is inside they seal the hole behind it and the machine is forgotten.
What an amazing experience for you all. It also was so interesting to me. Making that tunnel was not done as I thought. Very educational to me. Thanks for taking us along.
This is one of the cooler ones you guys have done, especially in scale. I worked construction at DIA Airport in Denver many years ago and our tunnels were way smaller. Thanks for this great work!
That was an amazing adventure for me! I can't imagine how cool that must have been for y'all. Thank you for this. I really enjoy watching these videos. I really loved the metal gear solid style snaeking past the guards when the train rolled by. That was great.
16:44 FYI - The word “mile” comes from the Latin "mille passus”, meaning one thousand paces, and a mile was 1,000 Roman strides, a stride being two paces. Don't think of it like 5280 feet, think of it like two thousand steps. Perfect for that tunnel.
Really love the vibes and ambiance in this one guys, definitely a different kind of exploration for your channel! I can’t wait to see what the rest of your recent Spain trip has in store. Keep up the great content!
I can't even describe it but this one was so good. The wind, the lighting, the big empty shots. It just feels so barren. Same vibes as URU if anyone remembers that game lmao
At this point, that TBM has been there for long enough that it would need a major refurbishment to bring it back online, if that's even possible. There's a massive cost involved in getting that thing moving again. They really should have completed the tunnel at a bare minimum, even if they did not build the stations right away. 18:04 The TBM needs something to push against. That might explain why theses rings were built. 26:20 Theses types of safety rooms are often motorised and able to roll down the tunnel to a safe location.
@@ButterfatFarms They do mention at the start of the video that there's a missing link, so are we sure that the tunnel is finished digging? Either way, the breakout room is good news. If they do have more digging to do, it would probably be cheaper to scrap the existing TBM and bring in a new machine.
Those huge shafts are usually just for access while tunnels are built. It's the first thing that gets built and is used to lower the tunnel boring machines and other equipment.
I don't know what's more existentially saddening; an old abandoned site that is well past its better days & just left to decay or the wasted potential of some place that never fulfilled its intended purpose. To me, it's about all that energy & time that was put into something that now doesn't matter anymore.
Great explore guys! We all know these tunnels are big but seeing you guys walking through it really puts it into perspective. Great video and as always look forward to your next one. Cheers!
@@Rhewin That's good. It would just feel like a waste otherwise. I've read & seen things about projects here in the states where buildings never got finished or they did & now they just sit empty & useless
man i wish when i was younger we had cell phones to record out adventures like this. Thanks for the entertainment boys and risking health and possible trouble with the law. god bless
At 18:15 that’s a cat next gen excavator. Caterpillar came out with those in 2019-2020. Judging by the condition of the machine, it hasn’t been there very long…
beautiful work. I love photography of these engineering sites. It is amazing what we are able to build and bore deep into the earth. its like a sci-fi movie
This is a cool change of pace! Nice Find, Guys! It was wierd when Michael said, "In Case of Emergency, we're screwed". It sounded funny and then it hit me. He's not kidding! Now.... I know the odds of them experiencing an emergency are pretty slim, so I am sure they will be fine. Thanks Guys and be Safe!!
You should watch the one video where they go into an old decommissioned nuclear power plant. Literally every surface of the place is covered in pipes, wiring, buttons and gauges. The scale is insane.
I love what you guys do. I am concerned though when I hear comments like 'I smell mold.' Have you considered having breathing gear or at least mold filtering masks to protect your lungs.
This felt like one of the most "URBAN" explores that The Proper People have done. I know they explore a lot of places in the middle of urban areas, but they always start after they are already in the building and the buildings are pretty much completely abandoned. With them climbing over fences and stuff in the middle of a city, the modern industrial equipment, the lights still on in the tunnel; it felt way more urban and suspenseful than most of their videos. I really love this video.
Thanks to Morning Brew for sponsoring a portion of this video and thanks for my daily news briefing - sign up for free here morningbrewdaily.com/properpeople.
Thanks to Sponsorblock to save me from ad time
The guy who fell dropped something if you didn't catch it
Your videos are great I binge on them like crazy. But I got to ask how the hell can you afford to travel all these places. Gas back and forth to work is killing me.
@@niceboy761 Aye I was about to comment on the same thing. @ 20:49 looks like a phone or something go's into the rubble as he slides down. Hope they recovered it.
@@goodmorningsundaymorning4533 Our Patreon/YT supporters and sponsors help make it possible!
The Proper People are what I want to enjoy doing - but I’m too scared so I’ll stay indoors and watch.
IKR!
TAY ZONDAY?
Are you enjoying all the chocolate rain in the tunnel? Had to click but it is the real chocolate rain guy
Aww get out and do it while you're still young! I would love to but I'm too old now. It goes so fast.
Same but I’m just poor to travel
I worked in other sections of that subway, I had been in that tunnelling machine many times, it's the same one that drilled the section from Can Zam to La Sagrera stations, was disassembled there and carried to that part.
Many of the tunnel sections you show (the ones vertically divided) are already finished, just waiting for the rails and the trains. However, the stations in that area had to be done after the tunnel passed, and the side of the tunnel disassembled to allow for the platforms to be constructed. In that part of the city, the works were stopped due to the "upper side" of the city filling complaints and threatening legal action for hypothetical damages to their homes, so the works were stopped more than 10 years ago and never resumed.
There are talks to resume it, but many people living in the upper side care not for "peasant transportation", and will do whatever they can to stop it.
The worst is that part of the construction cost for those projects was to be offset by selling the tunnelling machine after the project was finished. Being abandoned like this, the cost will have dropped dramatically, despite being a good machine back in the day.
Bonus track: When I was in the other section in 2004, that same machine had to stop near the Fondo station due to sandy terrain. If the machine moved forward there was a high risk that a whole block would be swallowed by the tunnel. The machine was stopped and the terrain had to be stabilised by jet grouting (injecting concrete into the sand to make it solid, allowing the machine to continue excavating without risk of collapsing. The losses by the construction company (and, by extension, the government) were estimated in tens of millions in those 3-4 months the machine was stopped. Now it's been more than 10 years, so...
From a Google search, it seems work has started again, as the proper people made the news in Spain. And exposed the whole abandoned thing..
@@kittehgo well, next year there are elections, so it was foreseeable.
That’s incredible to read about the jet grouting part. In the US, the contractors might be able to file suit or claim insurance based on “unforeseen circumstances”. Though, I’m surprised that did not come up in a geotechnical investigation.
@@JY_Yip well, they were paid, of course... That part wasn't in the original project, so...
@@JY_Yip thats how contractors in the states make money being the lowest bidder. "Change orders" or any extra's, add ons or a complication not seen in surveys or plans, they will typically charge more for.
I worked on the Seattle tunnel project and this brings back memories. The boring machine we used was heavily computer controlled. The sensor monitor room was part of the machine, it was bigger than the one these guys found, it was sealed and on vibration mounts, you never could tell the machine was in operation, right adjacent to the computer room there was a clean break room and sleeping areas for 6 people. The rooms were divided 2 per partition. There was a shower, toilet, television with cable. They made us work 10 hour shifts even on Christmas, the logic was we couldn't refuse if we were already there. Just like this machine, there were crew safety bunkers for the construction crew and the computer staff was supposed to use the sleeping quarters as their bunker, I guess it would have worked it did have emergency air tanks on the back end. I remember coming out of there after 28 days, I would get headaches when outside, my eyes suffered temporary shock or something.
I’m working on Seattle’s new tunnel project. Using hyperbaric machine we don’t have to stay down there forever only the head is compressed and we go in for interventions to change knives and discs.
@@AsianManZan That's much better and safer than the old way. I'll bet the control room is actually large enough to feel like a relaxed office, I remember the close quarters feeling and I don't miss it.
How much they pay ya tho ? 🧐
@@fromthagreen7212 7.50 an hr plus tips
As a local Seattle this is cool to hear. Are you talking about the 99 tunnel?
I always enjoy a good engineering/industrial site explore by you guys.
Yeah, I'm 100% over asylum exploration videos at this point
surprised to see you here! two amazing channels!
19:20 that tunnel looked WAY smaller until he started walking down that piping, then you see the scale of just how giant that is.
Before there was a person for scale, on camera it looked almost like you'd need to bend down to walk through that.
indeed, thought it was some kind of utility tunnel of sort just a bit taller then them
I thought exactly the same thing
In some of the other videos, people have complained about someone walking into a shot. My reply was that you NEED someone just to put things into scale.
@@johnpombrio Exactly! Cameras by themselves just simply can't scale it alone. A person is one of the best scales when it comes to indescribably large structures.
@@Jinx1927 for a smaller scale use a coin or a dollar bill
18:14 there’s something about this part of the video that I just adore. The music and the dripping water with the massive empty concrete room that stretches all the way up to the surface is for some reason so hypnotizing to me. This kind of thing is what makes me keep coming back to this channel.
It's like something straight out of Portal...
@@Johnyknowhow was just about to comment that! you could put that location as it is in portal 2‘s story and it would fit right in
As a former equipment operator, some of those machines are not decade old. I see one that's at most two years old without any signs of standstill aging. I assume they are still working, when they have money at the time, stop when they don't. I've been on similar projects.
I know it's not unusual but it still feels surreal to me to have something like an expensive backhoe just sitting there underground, patiently waiting to be put to use again. It makes me think of all the money spent on these sites that never end up being finished.
Yep that digger in the room was used recently for sure. Plus track marks on the entrance were super fresh.
Well, it was only a couple of weeks after this the government announced it was continuing the project. So no doubt they had already started to gather some things at this time.
Yeah they are still working on it all the time, i have a friend from barcelona, and it's just an ongoing project, not abandoned - just has slower periods in construction.
Yep. Those tunnel boring machines are beasts. They often get left in a field after they’re done, and then refurbished for a new project.
If you want to understand how this specific machine works, there is an animated video describing how it works: ua-cam.com/video/MZsbFycQ0Vo/v-deo.html
Here is a video of a tour through a similar machine being used in London: ua-cam.com/video/izLHTYaJrho/v-deo.html
thank you so much.
Thank you for sharing these links!
Thank You so much.
Cheers 😊
The tunnel with the water looked small until they crawled down and walked in the pipe. Amazing stuff
Perspective is everything! It looked like just a storm drain until a human sized is used for scale. That must have been a giant tunnel machine.
My brain was thinking London Underground size until the guys came in to shot.
Did anyone notice at 20:57 he drops his phone while trying to climb down onto that pipe.
@@kadymcawesome773 They talk about a flashlight lost in the fall at 22:45, so it must be that instead. That might sound like not much in comparison, but those are high performance flashlights, not cheap, plus his light panel got broken too.
I love how distinct and foreboding the music is in every video. Really lends to the feeling of abandonment in the atmosphere that surrounds most of the places being explored.
Sanitoriums, orphanages, mansions and research labs... but I never expected an abandoned metro tunnel. Very neato :>
The abandoned Cincinnati subway and the ore mines are some of my favorite episodes
@@mtnman1984 Oh? I must have missed those- thanks, I'll go back and look for them. o3o
The cinci tunnel is definitely a favorite since I had driven on the highway past the entrance my whole life and never knew what it looked like inside
Pretty sure this metro isn't abandoned, they are actively boring it
@@magscorch7706 Yeah, saw that mentioned towards the end- it was really the boring machine itself that was outdated/abandoned and is getting disassembled, hauled out and replaced.
But still, seeing an in-progress metro tunnel was quite a sight. :B
20:50 it looks like you lost a flash light or something like it. As you slid down it can be seen falling between the rocks. Hope you found it on the way out because that’d be a long walk just to get a flash light back
they said in a scene right after, that it broke also.
was about to comment that lol
I also noticed, but thanks to my raging ADHD, I was still trying to write the comment when the part came up where they mention losing/breaking the lights. So I deleted it and went to find out if anyone else caught it and here y’all are! 😁
@@sdfsdf2205 saw this comment right after i commented glad i wasnt the only one who noticed
Looked like a cell phone to me.
Between this and other such sites, I get the impression Spain is really proficient in creating hugely expensive construction ruins.
But this is a really special explore and I'm glad I'm seeing it PP style!
Would be a great airsoft site though.
Germany is mich better in creating constructions that are 10 times more expensive take 20 times as much time for building and after its done major problems occure and the have to start again. Berlin airport for example
@@laurensa.1803 You'd need a lot of participants to make it work, given the size 😅
The construction was started again
@@schubiduba1 Germany really hasn't changed in the last century, huh? :P
Could be worse, and be like China with multi billion dollar empty cities.
Thank you guys for filming all this! As a mechanic, I've always wondered A) How big the machine actually is, B) What the *F* the inner workings look like, and C) how the workers traversed the machine! GREAT JOB! And thank you! I love your videos!
The front of the machine was pressurised because the ground being excavated was below the water table and would collapse under normal pressure hence the airlock.
Is it just me or is this one of the most daredevil ones you guys have done? I know in some of the old buildings there's always the danger of a floor collapse but somehow the suspense in this one was off the charts. keep up the good work
They did another abandoned subway in the US I do believe it wa she largest abandoned one in length
@@biohazardlnfS Yeah that was great but entering that subway was a lot easier than the Spanish one
I would recommend a gas and VOC reader in this area, love your videos but places like this can have unseen dangers like an abandoned mine
I'm glad to hear they will continue the tunnel. All that work would have been such a waste if they never finished it.
Tell that to Cincinnati... who built a subway system in the 20th century only for it to be abandoned and the above ground portions demolished. PP did a video on it (and the fallout shelter that was crafted from one of the stations, only for it too to be re-abandoned).
Yep and in this day and age of inflation and unstable economy, wasting money, especially THAT much money (if they never finished it) is foolhardy and inexcusable, really.
@@ratdude747 unfortunally we got alot of utilities running thru it now (mainly a water main) that means it will almost never be restarted
@@ratdude747 But you know. CARS. CARS are important, only CAR. Everyone needs to buy a CAR with a LOAN so that banks/lenders make also profit. And all that just to enable you to go to work and get your own money - to partly pay that CAR and the LOAN. That was the schema - Banks and automobile makers did it together.
And now you cannot do anything - not even to get groceries - in 99% of the US when you do not have access to a car. Residential areas and commercial areas strictly divided with no direct access, but only endless car roads around.
North America has the worst city planning of the world (Canada is included) - and sadly many developing countries repeat the EXACT same mistakes. Urban sprawls. houses everywhere, and endless roads for cars.
@@PascalGienger And you can be sure that as you hint at, it was all done "by design"!
Conspiracies happen all the time, even the Founding Fathers of the USA stated that fact back in the 1700s.
I always love when there's a long intro of them just getting to the area they're trying to explore. It really makes it seem like they're traveling to a different realm or something.
Rubble piles are the worst. The largest boulders seem to be the most unstable. Always have backup flashlights 🙂
You can see it fall out of his back pocket as he fell down the rubble.
Like they say, “two is one and one is none”!
20:51 for the time stamp of the lost flashlight
Ok
The reason that segmented lining was built and then removed is because the tunnel boring machine has to have the complete concrete ring built to push against, to move itself forward. It wouldn't be strong enough with a big piece missing from the ring.
Industrial engineering exploration with a large dose of sketchy sections. Awesome video guys 👍🏻
@grippa, how about the "hot boxes" at 26:00 Michael was talking about being inside of with everything burning around you... Just made me think that you'd know what an old "aluminum-pan oven TV dinner" felt like, lol.
These tunnels have that old aperture labs look and feel. The structures and engineering is imposing and threatening. An awesome exploration right there
exactly my thoughts!
I'm glad that you guys were able to get to see the tunnels before the company announced that construction is restarting. It's great that the company didn't completely abandoned a project that they were working on. I wonder how are the tunnels going to look like after construction is completed.
26:46 That butter cookie tin..... we are living in a simulation and the programmer is like... "ok so we got a tool shed workshop, we need a butter cookie tin for nuts and bolts."
Some information on the net says that the Barcelona Line 9 TBM had two "Earth Pressure Balance" Shields with a diameter of 9.37 meters, and two with a diameter of 12.06 meters. At the time of its operation in Seattle the Bertha TBM had the largest cutterhead ever built, with a diameter of 17.5 meters, and the whole machine had a length of 99 meters. After it completed boring the tunnel and broke out into the disassembly vault, it was cut up into scrap metal for removal. It was built specifically for boring one tunnel, and there was no practical way that it could be reused anywhere else.
I get the impression that a lot of these machines are so worn out by the end of their use that they couldn't be used again anyways.
@@mfree80286 In a basic sense, yes. For example, one of the TBMs that dug the channel tunnel was sealed in a side shaft after it was completed. They are logistically complicated pieces of equipment built to meet site-specific conditions. Some are reused if practical, but many remain within the structures they helped create.
@@mfree80286 most of the time they just tunnel a side path then seal it up
Wow, the beginning of the episode really looks like an apocalyptic movie with the color of the sky and everything. Great job as always and keep up the amazing urbex!
Guys, one of THE coolest explores so far, right up there with the blast furnace! The industrial ones are my favourite, though I would have been so claustrophobic on this one! Great job as always.
i work for a tunnelling company and what you seen is very rare for the average person too see. hope you had air monitors on as there can be some very dangerous gas/ lack of C02 in those tunnels.
Lack of C02? You mean oxygen?
@@MrDude-sp6et lol yeah, my bad.
A boring machine, but an amazing video. :D
No matter where in the world you might be. When you walk into a workshop there's always butter cookies tin in there. And it always seems to be from the same company. And it doesn't matter what kind of workshop it is, even if the workshop has no use for them. The tin always has miscellaneous bolts, or screws. I'm surprised no one has come up with some crazy theory to explain it. 🤔
Becusae we live in a simulation...and the random generator must always generate cookie tins....
It's hilarious that the cookie containers are internationally ubiquitous for storing screws and other small things
I thought the same thing lol
I can’t tell ya just how much I love the underground/industrial type videos. Please bring back the cave exploration series that was insane!
This is something I NEVER expected to see in my lifetime. Absolutely amazing footage! Thanks guys!
this entire video is fantastic, but the sound quality is absolutely amazing. it sounds like im in a movie theatre.
It's nice some people will appreciate that important aspect.
They left boring machines in the Super Collider in Waxahachie Texas it was a 54 mile long Particle Collider that was abandoned in 1993 by congress and all the equipment got left down there at 164 ft to 575 ft under ground.
Love me some exploration videos. A lot cooler than people trying to fake haunted locations.
Love me this opinion
The dripping water in the huge tunnel going up was awesome to listen to.
The machine reminded me of Ocean's 13...though given how huge the machine you were on was...I now realize how impossible it probably is for one person to run one of those machines like in the movie (I know it's a movie and it's all fake but yeah...).
To going into abounded nuclear reactor and a unfinished metro tunnel you guys deserve more credit.
That space around 14:00 reminds me of that giant drainage thing you have to get down in Mirror's Edge. In fact, this whole video reminds me of that game lol. Love it
This is probably the coolest exploration I've ever seen.
There are practically no structures I would not want to know the How and When they were built, my inquisitive mind is absolutely astonished by your discoveries during your explorations in the Abandoned facilities. Thank you for putting forth these amazing videos.
I'm pleased to see U guys didn't do what a few kids did a months back at this same location...they thought it'd be cool to start up a transport vehicle for the workers and drove it a mile or so and smashed into TBM framework and eventually got it stuck high side and left it idling...U guys were definitely trying to maintain low profile but the echo in those tunnels is tremendously resilient and I'm pretty sure those rent-a-jokes are too lazy to come down after anyone...Stay Gold🍻
I think my favorite video of the proper people is the 2-part mine one from a few years ago. But this one is surprisingly haunting too, it has a unique ambience and to think all of it is under a living city.
Wish we could follow the friends who accompained you here on youtube too.
This is one of the most epic videos to date, its so cool just how massive the tunnel. Another thing how did they even get heavy equipment down there.
Usually they hoist them down by a crane, for the borers they’re lowered down in pieces and reassembled on tunnel level
In pieces
@@CJaide9939 thanks for the info.
I can't even imagine what their underground cities look like!
@@goodmorningsundaymorning4533 Neither can I, I’ve always wanted to see the full extent of Seattle’s abandoned underground, especially the off limit sections.
Wow that place is crazy, you could feel the tension the first few minutes. And that tunnel... Mustve been exhasting being there for five hours. Great explore as always!
"They build it to destroy it" - you read my mind watching the amount of stuff that will have to be removed one day. Great video.
The scale and how deep you are is just so crazy! I work in public transit construction, so this was a nice change of pace. Thank you for sharing.
Absolutely phenomenal work this was amazing!
It's crazy how much engineering, work, money, and time goes into building a metro tunnel, just for it to be abandoned.
well fortunately, it sounds like they are going to continue it and get it finished out.
Never was, large scale projects take many years to complete. Misleading title.
@@ACombineSoldier I mean, even sitting idle is still a waste. Better get it finished asap so people can actually use it
@@yobb1n544 they’re fixin to do just that
It's not abandoned, it was temporarily paused because of the 2008 financial crisis... it has now been resumed
Enjoyed that thanks for taking us with you guys
I just recently found this channel and you guys are hands down one of the coolest channels I have seen on this site. Good stuff.
Excellent, perfect way to unwind after a Monday at work!
So nice of them to leave the lights on for you!
Typically those tunnels are made with 48 differently dimensioned concrete segments. They're gasketed and bolted together to do whatever routing needs to be done. I love tunnels. You can also find an abandoned 9 foot machine in Tacoma, WA....no doubt flooded. It got stuck and the French company abandoned it and went bankrupt because of it. That was for storm water drainage into Puget Sound. Each segment was 3 to 6 cubic yards of concrete. There were over 100,000 segments in each tunnel. 9 foot, 11 foot and 14 foot. 3 tunnels
where would one find the entrance to said tunnel? asking for a friend.
@@silicon1The entrances are all under water. They're all drainage tunnels. King County storm drainage project. Many millions of $$$. Company I worked for got $20 million just to re-open concrete plant to deal with that stuck drilling machine. The machine was bypassed via another 9' tunnel that went around it. Sorta neat to think that machine will be there for millions of years.
@@nhzxboi That's crazy that it was apparently cheaper to build an entire tunnel around it than remove it.
@@shannonrickard8605 I imagine it has to do with safety and or there being a breach somewhere that allowed a lot of water into the tunnel. The cutter heads of tunnel boring machines are well ahead of the section that builds the concrete walls as it moves. And since those machines are really only designed to go forwards backing it out is impossible. The diameter of the boring machine is larger than the final diameter of a finished section of tunnel. Thus, the only way for it to come out backwards would be in pieces, which means you'd effectively have to destroy the front part of the machine to remove it. Costly, due to the labor involved, safety risks, and then the fact the machine itself is destroyed in the process.
@@randomman057 often when a projected is completed, another tunnel is constructed for the TBM to be entombed for eternity. When the machines are reused or sold I presume the tunnel ends in a large access point and the TBM is recovered to the surface in segments. Seems such a waste not to reuse the machines.
I have only watches 7 minutes and this video is already one of the best. It feels so real. I know you guys really go to these places but, this video is so surreal and captivating. I feel like im in some kind of exploration video game and its fantastic. I forgot to mention the audio. Great choices to bring it all together.
That place is the definition of a video game, especially at the beginning when it was half open construction with water everywhere. Love u guy's vids, keep it up and stay safe :)
Yea something like the game metro 2033 hehe
Could also be the scene of a horror movie. Lots of spooky places in there.
Definite Black Mesa vibes
This has to be one of the most incredible spaces you guys have explored, just by sheer size.
Very impressive. Its amazing how massive this thing is and far far underground it goes. Looking up those shaves is truly breathtaking. I would have worn boots if I had know there was so much water, but even that might not do it considering how deep it is.
Seeing that machine in action would be insane. It must be so loud and hot when it’s on
I had a chance to see one of the machines they were using a bore a road tunnel in Hong Kong - that was about 14m across, so larger than a typical subway tunnel. Yes, it was incredibly loud, even when wearing hearing protection and there was a bunch of constant low-frequency vibration. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hot - although I gather there was a large cooling system in use.
@@TrimeshSZ ah, the cooling system does make sense, and of course they did talk about the water cooling and j this video
That’s what she said
@20:51 did you retrieve whatever fell from dudes bag? I watch a lot of your explorations and I must say this one is one of the best. Imagine the money just wasted here... Thanks for the video and the time it takes to create, edit and UL these for me to live vicariously through you guys...
I've known about these machines but, the scale of them is pretty awesome. It's amazing what the do. Dig, put up walls and everything. Very massive machines. It's nice to see one up close...Thanks as normal !
I'm a bit surprised to hear they are going to haul the pieces of that old TBM back up to the surface. Some of the Canadian tunnel projects I've heard about involved tunneling the machine into a new leg of the tunnel it drills its way into. Then it is encapsulated within for eternity! The modern history tour was great, many thanks to The Proper People :)
That's what was done with the UK borer for the channel tunnel. Kind of sad to think of it burying itself under the channel.
Yeah, when building the Channel Tunnel the final machine that made the cut connecting the French tunnel with the British tunnel was just sent off digging to one side and then sealed in.
Tunnel boring machines are often left underground after completing the job because it is more expensive to remove it and to refurbish it for another use then to just buy and build a whole new.
I don't think this can be done because this line already has two north and south functional sections, so the only option would be to dig another parallel tunnel to specifically leave the machine in there?? Idk
@@rubengonzalez2911 That is exactly what they do. Once the tunnel is complete and they have no use for the machine they specifically dig a parallel tunnel that is just long enough to fit the machine in to.
Once the machine is inside they seal the hole behind it and the machine is forgotten.
What an amazing experience for you all. It also was so interesting to me. Making that tunnel was not done as I thought. Very educational to me. Thanks for taking us along.
Love all the episodes you guys put out but this was one of the best in a while!
This is one of the cooler ones you guys have done, especially in scale. I worked construction at DIA Airport in Denver many years ago and our tunnels were way smaller. Thanks for this great work!
That was by far the coolest thing you guys have done. Great exploration!!
That was an amazing adventure for me! I can't imagine how cool that must have been for y'all. Thank you for this. I really enjoy watching these videos. I really loved the metal gear solid style snaeking past the guards when the train rolled by. That was great.
Great content as always this looked like a cool one to explore i cant wait for more
I am amazed at how much lighting is active in an unused and unfinished tunnel.
Love you guys from Australia 🇦🇺 Always awesome content. Thankyou!🙏
16:44 FYI - The word “mile” comes from the Latin "mille passus”, meaning one thousand paces, and a mile was 1,000 Roman strides, a stride being two paces. Don't think of it like 5280 feet, think of it like two thousand steps. Perfect for that tunnel.
30:36 - Missed opportunity for "Chairs just drilling".
One of the most interesting explorations you guy's have done! Great to tag along watching in this video!
I freaked myself out by imagining the sounds of the machine starting to come to life and fill the front bit with water when you went up there
That machine had to make a LOT of noise when running.
Brilliant I have spent most of my working life on these machines
Hope you went back for your phone when it fell out @20:50 when you fell. But other than that, great exploration!
Really love the vibes and ambiance in this one guys, definitely a different kind of exploration for your channel! I can’t wait to see what the rest of your recent Spain trip has in store. Keep up the great content!
That little jab you took about the (haunted) tunnel Mike... I legit fkn died 😂 Thanks for being a purist
Yeeah! that was so funny I had to pause the video because I was having belly laughs!
I can't even describe it but this one was so good. The wind, the lighting, the big empty shots. It just feels so barren. Same vibes as URU if anyone remembers that game lmao
I hope I don't have nightmares in my sleep being LOST in that tunnel. YIKES !
Thanks for another outstanding adventure !
This must be your best exploration to date. Keep up the good work guys!!!!!!
I know this video is going to be good and I haven't even watched it yet. 🔥 Thanks guys for continuing to put out amazing content!
This was absolutely amazing for you guys to experience. Thank you for bringing me a long.
At this point, that TBM has been there for long enough that it would need a major refurbishment to bring it back online, if that's even possible. There's a massive cost involved in getting that thing moving again. They really should have completed the tunnel at a bare minimum, even if they did not build the stations right away.
18:04 The TBM needs something to push against. That might explain why theses rings were built.
26:20 Theses types of safety rooms are often motorised and able to roll down the tunnel to a safe location.
@@ButterfatFarms They do mention at the start of the video that there's a missing link, so are we sure that the tunnel is finished digging?
Either way, the breakout room is good news. If they do have more digging to do, it would probably be cheaper to scrap the existing TBM and bring in a new machine.
Those huge shafts are usually just for access while tunnels are built. It's the first thing that gets built and is used to lower the tunnel boring machines and other equipment.
I don't know what's more existentially saddening; an old abandoned site that is well past its better days & just left to decay or the wasted potential of some place that never fulfilled its intended purpose.
To me, it's about all that energy & time that was put into something that now doesn't matter anymore.
Great explore guys! We all know these tunnels are big but seeing you guys walking through it really puts it into perspective. Great video and as always look forward to your next one. Cheers!
It’s not really abandoned, more like idle or stalled. Some day, they may finish it
It’s not abandoned. It was on hold but they’re starting it up again
@@Rhewin
That's good. It would just feel like a waste otherwise. I've read & seen things about projects here in the states where buildings never got finished or they did & now they just sit empty & useless
@@colatf2
I hope so. I'd hate think all that effort went into something without completion.
man i wish when i was younger we had cell phones to record out adventures like this. Thanks for the entertainment boys and risking health and possible trouble with the law. god bless
At 18:15 that’s a cat next gen excavator. Caterpillar came out with those in 2019-2020. Judging by the condition of the machine, it hasn’t been there very long…
beautiful work. I love photography of these engineering sites. It is amazing what we are able to build and bore deep into the earth. its like a sci-fi movie
You guys are equal parts brave, curious, and crazy, lol. This was wild, man!
This is a cool change of pace! Nice Find, Guys! It was wierd when Michael said, "In Case of Emergency, we're screwed". It sounded funny and then it hit me. He's not kidding! Now.... I know the odds of them experiencing an emergency are pretty slim, so I am sure they will be fine. Thanks Guys and be Safe!!
The fact that some of us little humans have built all that huge machinery and it somehow works is so mind-blowing to me wow
You should watch the one video where they go into an old decommissioned nuclear power plant. Literally every surface of the place is covered in pipes, wiring, buttons and gauges. The scale is insane.
I love what you guys do. I am concerned though when I hear comments like 'I smell mold.' Have you considered having breathing gear or at least mold filtering masks to protect your lungs.
This felt like one of the most "URBAN" explores that The Proper People have done. I know they explore a lot of places in the middle of urban areas, but they always start after they are already in the building and the buildings are pretty much completely abandoned. With them climbing over fences and stuff in the middle of a city, the modern industrial equipment, the lights still on in the tunnel; it felt way more urban and suspenseful than most of their videos. I really love this video.
20:50 LOST THE FLASHLIGHT!
Hi from Calgary Canada. Well done guys. Definitely tied with the vacant city in China for your best work.
fr you guys need to explore more stuff like this, they're so fun to watch and get inspiration from.
Seems like your in the world or Fallout but in real life watch out for Mirelurks down there! Also keep an eye out for Feral Ghouls to.
Quite possibly, the coolest thing I've ever seen on UA-cam! This was INCREDIBLE!!